PPE in the Garden

This is my grandfather, feeding cattle.
PPE in my line of work is Personal Protective Equipment. The equipment is similar for gardening and cell culture (no straw hats in the lab, though), but the reasons for wear differ from one application to the other.
1. Gloves.Wear them. You may have tough hands, you may be proud of blisters and callouses, but wear them, anyway. If you fertilize or mulch or spread insecticide without them, you risk injury. Really. I prefer leather gloves for sod busting and clearing out bushes and roots, chemically-resistant disposable vinyl or rubber for chemical or fertilizer work, and softer cloth gloves for transplanting (easier to wash when muddy).
2. Other safety items needed may include goggles and masks(if you're into chemical sprays, which you almost have to be if you want to grow tree fruit), long-sleeved shirts, and brimmed hats. The increase in skin cancer from 100 years ago to today in Caucasians was not merely due to the hole in the ozone layer. Look back at your family photos, and the reason becomes painfully obvious. We don't wear CLOTHING in the summer anymore! Women get skin cancer on the shoulders, tops of the thighs, and faces from sun exposure. Men get it on top of their heads, and on the upper torso. Melanoma can happen anywhere on the body, mostly due to blistering sunburns in childhood, and sun block does not help. When the sun is high, your hat and sleeves are ON! A straw hat will keep you shaded and cool, and the sleeves of a white or pastel shirt can cool you by keeping the sun off, as well. The sleeves provide an added benefit- less mosquito bites. Note the (rolled-up) long sleeves and hat on my grandfather, above. He had straw hats as well as the baseball-type cap he is wearing here. Sleeves also protect you from irritation from okra or squash leaves, or worse from poison ivy. Drink more water and sweat a bit. Your ancestors would approve.